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Encyclopedia > Medical ventilator
Ambulance ventilation equipment
Ambulance ventilation equipment

A medical ventilator is a device designed to provide mechanical ventilation to a patient. Ventilators are chiefly used in intensive care medicine, home care, and emergency medicine (as standalone units) and in anesthesia (as a component of an anesthesia machine). Download high resolution version (2560x1920, 658 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (2560x1920, 658 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Bag valve mask In medicine, mechanical ventilation is a method to assist or replace spontaneous breathing. ... Intensive Care Medicine or critical care medicine is concerned with providing greater than ordinary medical care and observation to people in a critical or unstable condition. ... Home care is health care provided in the home by healthcare professionals (often referred to as home health care or formal care) or by family and friends (informal care). ... Emergency medicine is a branch of medicine that is practiced in a hospital emergency department, in the field (in a modified form; see EMS), and other locations where initial medical treatment of illness takes place. ... Cetacaine, a typical topical anesthetic Anesthesia or anaesthesia (see spelling differences), is the process of blocking the perception of pain and other sensations. ... Anaesthetists use anaesthetic machines to support the administration of anaesthesia. ...


In its simplest form, a ventilator consists of a compressible air reservoir, air and oxygen supplies, a set of valves and tubes, and a disposable or reusable "patient set". The air reservoir is pneumatically compressed several times a minute to deliver an air/oxygen mixture to the patient; when overpressure is released, the patient will exhale passively due to the lungs' elasticity. The oxygen content of the inspired gas can be set from 21 percent (ambient air) to 100 percent (pure oxygen). Pressure and flow characteristics can be set mechanically or electronically. AIR is a three-letter abbreviation with multiple meanings, as described below: The Annals of Improbable Research, a monthly magazine devoted to scientific humour All India Radio - Indias Government Radio service AIR, a popular electronica band from France. ... General Name, Symbol, Number oxygen, O, 8 Chemical series Nonmetals, chalcogens Group, Period, Block 16, 2, p Appearance transparent (gas) very pale blue (liquid) Atomic mass 15. ... The lungs flank the heart and great vessels in the chest cavity. ...


Ventilators may also be equipped with monitoring and alarm systems for patient-related parameters (e.g. pressure and flow) and ventilator function (e.g. air leakage, power failure), backup batteries, air and oxygen tanks, and remote control and alarms. The pneumatic system is nowadays often replaced by a computer-controlled turbopump.


Modern ventilators are electronically controlled by a small embedded system to allow exact adaptation of pressure and flow characteristics to an individual patient's needs. Fine-tuned ventilator settings also serve to make ventilation more tolerable for the patient. In Germany, Canada, and the United States, respiratory therapists are responsible for tuning these settings. A router, an example of an embedded system. ... Respiratory therapy is an allied health field involved in the treatment of breathing disorders which include chronic lung problems (i. ...


Life-critical system

Because the failure of a mechanical ventilation system may result in death, it is classed as a life-critical system, and precautions must be taken to ensure that mechanical ventilation systems are highly reliable. This includes their power-supply provision. A life-critical system or safety-critical system is a system whose failure or malfunction may result in: death or serious injury to people, or loss or severe damage to equipment or environmental harm. ...


Mechanical ventilators are therefore carefully designed so that no single point of failure can endanger the patient. They usually have manual backup mechanisms to enable hand-driven respiration in the absence of power. Some systems are also equipped with compressed-gas tanks and backup batteries to provide ventilation in case of power failure or defective gas supplies, and methods to operate or call for help if their mechanisms or software fails.


Ventilators, historical

Mechanical ventilators began to be used increasingly in anaesthesia and intensive care during the 1950's. Their development was stimulated both by the need to treat polio patients and the increasing use of muscle relaxants during anaesthesia. Relaxant drugs paralyse the patient and improve operating conditions for the surgeon, but also paralyse the respiratory muscles and stop breathing. In the US the Bird ventilator was an early gas driven model, it required no electrical power source. In the UK the East Radcliffe and Beaver models were early examples, the later using an automotive wiper motor to drive the bellows used to inflate the lungs. Electric motors were however a problem in the operating theatres of that time, their use caused an explosion hazard in the presence of flammable anaesthetics such as ether and cyclopropane. In 1952 Roger Manley of the Westminster hospital, London, developed a ventilator which was entirely gas driven, and became the most popular model used in Europe. It was an elegant design, and became a great favourite with European anaesthetists for four decades, prior to the introduction of models controlled by electronics. It was independent of electrical power, and caused no explosion hazard. The original Mark I unit was developed to become the Manley Mark II in collaboration with the Blease company, who manufactured many thousands of these units. It's principle of operation was very simple, an incoming gas flow is used to lift a weighted bellows unit, which falls intermittently under gravity, forcing breathing gases into the patient's lungs. The inflation pressure can be varied by sliding the moveable weight on top of the bellows, it can be seen in the photograph. The volume of gas delivered is adjustable using a curved slider, which restricts bellows excursion. Residual pressure after the completion of expiration is also configurable, using a small weighted arm visible to the lower right of the front panel. This was an excellent and robust unit and it's availability encouraged the introduction of positive pressure ventilation techniques into mainstream European anaesthetic practice. In medicine, a muscle relaxant is a drug that causes skeletal muscle contraction to cease. ... Diethyl ether, also known as ether and ethoxyethane, is a clear, colorless, and highly flammable liquid with a low boiling point and a characteristic smell. ... Molecule structure formula of cyclopropane Cyclopropane is a cycloalkane molecule with the molecular formula C3H6 consisting of three carbon atoms linked to each other to form a ring, with each carbon atom bearing two hydrogen atoms. ...


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  Results from FactBites:
 
Ventilator,Brief Introduction of Ventilator, Ventilator Management -Welcome to NewTech Industrial Corporation (389 words)
A medical ventilator is a device designed to provide mechanical ventilation to a patient.
Ventilators are chiefly used in intensive care medicine, home care, and emergency medicine (as standalone units) and in anesthesia (as a component of an anesthesia machine).
An energy recovery ventilator (ERV) is a type of mechanical equipment that features a heat exchanger combined with a ventilation system for providing controlled ventilation into a building.An energy recovery ventilator with humidity regulation incorporates a method to remove excess humidity or add humidity to the ventilating air that is being...
Reference.com/Encyclopedia/Medical ventilator (822 words)
Ventilators are chiefly used in intensive care medicine, home care, and emergency medicine (as standalone units) and in anesthesia (as a component of an anesthesia machine).
In its simplest form, a ventilator consists of a compressible air reservoir, air and oxygen supplies, a set of valves and tubes, and a disposable or reusable "patient circuit".
Because the failure of a mechanical ventilation system may result in death, it is classed as a life-critical system, and precautions must be taken to ensure that mechanical ventilation systems are highly reliable.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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